1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a machine for separating a material mixture into components of different flowability, comprising a housing which includes a frame portion to be covered by a rear wall, a floor portion and a top cover, and an add-on or extension portion to be releasably attached to the base or frame portion leaving a space; a rotatable drum with a perforated outer surface arranged in said housing; an endless presser belt arranged to partially wrap said drum and move in the same sense as said drum; adjustable pressing means including at least a roller for pressing said presser belt against said drum; means for driving the perforated drum and/or the presser belt, preferably in the form of a chain drive; and a pull-in zone and a delivery zone formed by the presser belt and the circumferential surface of the drum.
2. Prior Art
Machines of this kind are commonly employed in the food industry and are used, for example, for mincing meat while at the same time removing collagenous tissue or tendons, for producing fish forcemeat which is free of skin and bones, for making fruit or vegetable juices and/or pulp, for recovering the contents of packaging, and for many other purposes. They are also increasingly used in the recycling industry.
They function so that the product being processed is fed into the pull-in zone and is there drawn in between the perforated drum and presser belt. The flowable components are then extruded through the perforations in the drum into its interior under the influence of the belt pressure while the less flowable components remain on the outer surface of the drum and are finally removed, preferably by scraping with a scraping device, at a delivery zone.
The presser belt is normally guided by means of a pressure roller, a tension roller and/or a deflection roller. As a rule, the pressure roller also serves as the driving roller for the presser belt. The presser belt is guided between front and rear walls which house the rollers as well as the perforated drum. The open end of the perforated drum extends through the front wall and is borne there by support rollers, which hold the drum above a bearing surface, provided specifically for this purpose.
The basic arrangement and functional parts of such a separating machine having a perforated drum are shown for example in the reference DE 4328627 while the structural principle of such a machine is shown in EP 0394625.
The use of such a separator machine especially in the food industry imposes high requirements in many respects. The hygiene requirements are inter alia of particular import. The apparatus of this kind must therefore allow easy and thorough cleaning, which requires not only a compact construction but also and especially rapid and easy access to the functional parts which are necessary in practically all fields of application. The presser belt, or rather its attrition is also critical, since the rubbed-off parts will inevitably land in the product and impair the quality thereof. Furthermore, problems will always occur when the product to be processed contains large lumps, since it is difficult to distribute the product uniformly over the pressing area surface which easily leads to leaks and poor processing results.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is the primary object of the invention to suggest a machine which, when either taken as a whole or by combination of several of its structural components overcomes the prior art deficiencies. It is a particular object of the invention to improve the arrangement and operation of at least part of the different machine component parts mentioned above by suggesting a machine which by virtue of a coaction of those component parts operates substantially more effectively. It is a further object of the invention to thus improve the manageability of such machine or at least its essential functional component parts.